Est 1923

Bach Violin Concertos

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach

Label: Red Seal

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 59

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: RD60718

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Concerto for Violin and Strings Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
English Chamber Orchestra
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Pinchas Zukerman, Violin
Concerto for 2 Violins and Strings Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
English Chamber Orchestra
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
José-Luis Garcia, Violin
Pinchas Zukerman, Violin
The discs by Zukerman and Sitkovetsky (Novalis/ASV) have much in common: they offer middle-of-the-road versions of all three basic violin concertos plus a 'filler', the other soloist in BWV1043 is Jose-Luis Garcia and the ripieno is provided by the ECO, directed in each case by the soloist. Period instruments have leaner sounds than modern ones and their users often adopt rather quicker tempos in the flanking movements; here it is usually Zukerman who approaches them the more closely (without losing clarity), though his approach is the more bland and polite, e.g. in BWV1041/I and 1042/I where Sitkovetsky gives his phrases more dynamic bite, and in the sharper pointing of the wave-form arpeggios in BWV1043/II (Zukerman first at 1'33'').
In the slow movements both Zukerman and Sitkovetsky keep things moving nicely and avoid romanticism (albeit on occasion by the skin of their teeth), but with some small differences. Matching trills are marked in BWV1041/II at bars 9 and 23 (Zukerman 1'12'', 3'10''), to which Zukerman adds an unmarked one in bar 39 (5'25''), all of which Sitkovetsky ignores, and at the ends of the many piano passages, he (and with him the ripieno), unlike Sitkovetsky, does not over-anticipate the fortes that follow. At the end of BWV1043/II, however, Zukerman/Garcia lose the effect of the forte on the final five notes by failing to respect the preceding piano, and in BWV1042/III, in which Zukerman's tempo is livelier but on the edge of sounding hurried, neither soloist handles the many sharp p/f contrasts very well. Given that in BWV1056 the lush tendencies Zukerman elsewhere suppresses come closer to the surface, Sitkovetsky's bonus filler, BWV1060, is preferable.
Both discs are well recorded, Zukerman's with the warmer acoustic, but though they are amongst the very best of the many now on offer, I can't honestly say that either is the one with which to live happily ever after.'

Bach Violin Concertos

Concerto for Violin and Strings

Concerto for 2 Violins and Strings

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